Gaston College enters holiday break and will begin second half of season in pursuit of Region 10 title

Entering the 2022 holidays, Gaston College's basketball program will be taking its final break of the 2022-23 season before returning in early January to begin drills with the goal of pursuing a Region 10 championship.

"I think we've got a chance to be a really good team," said first-year Rhinos' head coach Jamie Rosser, whose 7-3 team returns to action on Sunday, January 8, against Gaddis Watts Prep Academy at 3:00 p.m. at Ashbrook High School. "We're going to come back after the break and focus in on playing a certain way. We're almost halfway through the season and can look back at what we've done and make some necessary improvements, but we also need to capitalize on some of the good things that we have done."

Gaston College played eight scrimmage games before the regular season and has never had its full 14-player roster available for a single game so far this season due to injuries and/or illness. Each of the Rhinos' 14 players have played in at least one game, nine players have started at least one game and no one player has started all 10 games. Navigating those issues has been challenging for Rosser but it did allow his team to gain valuable experience.

"Since we brought in a lot of younger guys, I wanted to use those scrimmage games and the early season games to get some experience," Rosser said. "And I think it helped us a lot because it gave some of the younger guys playing time. We wanted to get our team together and learn together since we were so young. That 7-3 record could easily be 9-1. We lost a really close game at Gordon State, and we were up at the half against Pensacola."

Gaston College started out 5-0 with victories over Gaddis Watts, Walters State, Motlow State, Combine Academy and Belmont Abbey's developmental team before losing 86-84 at Gordon State on Nov. 17. The Rhinos then avenged that defeat with a 74-72 home win over Gordon State before losing at defending National Junior College Athletic Association champion Northwest Florida State on December 2, and to Pensacola State College before an 87-72 win over Moravian Prep in the first semester finale on December 10.

"I would give us a 'C' average if I was grading us, but with a ton of opportunity for improvement," Rosser said. "We must cut down on turnovers, do a better job rebounding, and make more of our free throws. I think we can zero in on those things and, with improvement, get to another level."

In Gaston College's 10 regular season games, sophomore DaMarco Watson (11.4 average), freshman Asil Hoyle (11.2), sophomore Caleb McCarty (10.8), sophomore Jordan Guthrie (9.1), sophomore Joshua Johnson (8.6), freshman Jamal Ukaegbu (7.7), freshman Michael Smith (7.7), sophomore Dedrick Givens (7.5), sophomore Dee Merriweather (6.5) and freshman Yarayah Evans (5.3) have led a balanced offense in which each has had at least one double-figure scoring effort.

Ukaegbu (6.0 average), McCarty (5.9), Watson (5.4) and Givens (4.8) are the top rebounders, Watson (5.3), Hoyle (3.0) and Guthrie (2.3) lead in assists, Smith (1.7), Ukaegbu (1.3) and Watson (1.1) are tops in steals and McCarty (2.8) and Johnson (1.0) are leading in blocked shots.

Rosser seeks improvement on the team's 17.1 assists per game to 15.9 turnovers per game ratio and its 60.1 percent free throw shooting.

Johnson, one of six players who returned from last year's roster, has drawn high praise from Rosser for his improvement both on and off the court. "I've got to give a lot of credit to Joshua Johnson," Rosser said. "I actually wasn't going to bring him back after last year. He had bad body language, at times he had some attitude issues and there were just a lot of things with him that coaches can't have in their program. But we had a conversation with him and his parents and he's turned his life around and become the kind of leader I can lean on to help the team and especially the young guys. I have to single him out for his leadership because he's a guy who had trials and tribulations but turned them around and I'm very proud of him in the classroom and on the court. So I have to sing his praises for what he's been doing."

The Rhinos' second half schedule will include 12 games against Region 10 opposition in what looks to be an extremely competitive league race. "This is a league that anybody can win," said Rosser, who was associate head coach for Gaston College head coach David "Dickey" Nutt when the Rhinos finished one game out of first place in a league race in which first place (9-5) to seventh place (5-9) was separated by only four games. "You don't have one school that people are saying, 'This is who's going to take it this year.' This thing is wide open for all of us. If we can get everyone healthy and on the same page at the same time, I think we can be a really good team. It's been a while since we've had all guys ready to go. That's just part of it but I think one day soon we'll have some luck and see what we can do."

Only two league games have been played this season with Richard Bland knocking off Denmark Tech and Cape Fear Community College. Caldwell Tech and Brunswick Community College shared the league's regular season title last season with Caldwell Tech winning the postseason tournament. The regular season runs through March 2, with Cape Fear Community College hosting the league tournament March 9-11.

Rosser is hopeful the Rhinos can improve enough in the second half of the season to make a title run. "Rebounding and free throws are a 'want to' talent and effort plays," Rosser said. "So we need to focus in on those areas and get better. I can't be anything but proud of my guys; they are taking care of their business off the court in the classroom. We'll have all of our players back for the second semester and we could potentially add a player or two for the second half of the season."